US Attorney Grant Jaquith - a Republican appointee of Donald Trump - does not necessarily have to follow the longstanding tradition of the office of turning a blind eye to the crimes of Bronfman-Raniere.

Breaking News: TWO TRIALS In The Bronfman-Raniere Case – Northern District to start with child porn and child exploitation! – Investigation may widen!!!

Although the ultimate decision will be made by Judge G. Garaufis, it now looks almost certain that there will be two trials with respect to the charges that are currently pending against some of the defendants in the case of the U.S. v. Raniere Et Al.

That’s because the prosecution has now agreed that Counts Three, Four, Five and Eleven from the second superseding indictment in the case should be “dismissed without prejudice for lack of venue”.

Once again, for the sake of all those Frank Report readers who have not yet totally memorized the second superseding indictment, here’s what those four counts entail – and which of the defendants are involved in those charges:

As was pointed out in the lengthy Memorandum-of-Law that it filed in response to all of the defendants’ pre-trial motions, the prosecution never asserted that those four counts could be tried in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) unless the defendants granted a waiver of venue.

Now, since the affected defendants did not grant such a waiver, those four charges will likely be tried in the Northern District of New York (NDNY) after the current case in the EDNY has been fully resolved.

It is not yet clear what the process will be in terms of re-initiating the dismissed counts against Raniere and Bronfman.

But from the wording in the Memorandum-of-Law, it sounds like the process will start anew in the NDNY – most likely with the presentation of the relevant facts to a grand jury that will have the power to indict Raniere and Bronfman for the exact same crimes that are being dismissed in the EDNY.

The question, of course, is whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the NDNY will stop with those two defendants – and those four crimes – when it FINALLY gets off its collective ass and get involved in matters involving the NXIVM/ESP sex-slave cult.

For almost 20 years, the NDNY has sat on its hands – and allowed NXIVM/ESP to evolve from a kinky little group with some strange rites and rituals into a criminal enterprise that has been involved in a variety of serious crimes in several countries.

Had the NDNY got involved back in 2005 when it was first provided with hard evidence about many of NXIVM/ESP’s criminal activities, there might not be 150 women walking around today with Keith Raniere’s initials branded on their pussies.

And there might not have been bogus criminal prosecutions brought against Toni Natalie, Joe O’Hara and John Tighe for allegedly accessing the website of the NXIVM/ESP cult by using a former members’ User Name and Password (Barbara Bouchey was charged with the same crime because for some unknown reason, she chose to access the NXIVM/ESP website four months after the New York State Police had seized all of the computers owned by Natalie, O’Hara, and Tighe for doing the same thing).

And there might not have been all the illegal immigration activities that ended up with so many foreign nationals living in the Clifton Park area.

And Raniere may not have raped underage girls.

And on and on…

*****

But now the NDNY has a “second chance” to get it right.

Now headed up by Grant C. Jaquith, who took over as the U.S. Attorney on July 1, 2017, the NDNY can easily make up for his office’s years of inaction with respect to NXIVM/ESP.

And the NDNY need not limit itself to the four counts that have been dropped in the EDNY.

Although Raniere and Bronfman cannot be charged again with Racketeering and Racketeering Conspiracy – at least not with respect to the predicate acts that were used to support those charges in the EDNY – there are plenty of other potential defendants within 25 miles of Jaquith’s office who are definitely candidates for those charges.

And what about all the public officials – like Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares, Albany County Judge Peter A. Lynch, Albany City Judge Holly Trexler, New York State Senior Investigator Rodger Kirsopp, and a whole lot more – who aided and abetted the NXIVM/ESP criminal enterprise over the years.

Let’s see if you can get it right this time, Mr. Jaquith.

We’ll be watching – and we’ll be reporting – every step of the way on what you do and don’t do.

27 Comments

One of the great things about this development is that it pretty much guaranties there will be no severing of trials for the remaining defendants. That, in turn, will likely lead to more plea deals in the not too distant future.

Neither Clare nor Allison were implicated in the child porn charges.
In fact the impetus to sever the trials was generated by the fact that Clare and Allison had nothing directly to do with Raniere’s child porn and did not want to be tainted by those charges.
Now there is less pressure on Clare and Allison to enter a plea bargain.

I like the idea of addtional charges hanging over the heads of Raniere & Co., as well as the Albany area politicians. Whatever sentences are given out should run like Manafort’s additional conviction, consecutively, not concurrently, with whatever punishment the near-term trial results in. Even in the highly unlikely event any of them are found not guilty in the first trial, Raniere will probably remain in jail until the NDNY charges are resolved.

This is terrible news. NXIVM got away with everything in the Northern District for more than a decade. So now a new investigation will start in their old stompng grounds with different results? AND during a major election cycle?

Worst news ever.

One Trump appointee versus years of connections within the system. What kind of odds would Vegas put on that?

You apparently skipped over the part in the Memorandum-Of-Law where the prosecutors wrote: “The undersigned have been in contact with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York and will determine how to proceed on Counts Three, Four, Five and Eleven following their dismissal in this matter”.

Plus, there is no way for you to know that attorneys from the Northern District have previously asked to get involved in this case on two separate occasions. Both times, they were told they’d have to wait until the EDNY case had been concluded.

Lastly, we have heard from several sources that the Northern District office will be under intense scrutiny from DOJ headquarters when they have an opportunity to move forward with charges against Raniere and others. The embarrassment that resulted from their past failures means they will have very little discretion as to how things will be handled.

PS/Since your comment contained no factual analysis and no legal analysis whatsoever, I’m not sure what leads you to believe that you have any legal smarts. Binge-watching Law & Order may make you feel smarter than the people you usually hang out with – but it’s really not the same as knowing anything about the law.

PPS/Numerous scientific studies have determined that guys who type in all caps to emphasize what they’re saying tend to have exceptionally small dicks. I can’t believe I have more scientific smarts than you!

Since you are wasting the time to respond to you know “who”…..I think we all pretty much know who Kristoff is…..

…I am wondering if you could just post a link to more information regarding the type of deal Bronfman’s attorneys were attempting to make for her using information from another independent case and individual entirely…..

I would greatly appreciate and I believe everyone else interested in the criminal justice system inner workings would as well.
*******

BTW, did I happen to mention I believe you are one of the greatest writers of our time? In addition to being an incredible legal analyst as well. I hope you are having an incredible weekend!!!!

Actually it is not about “Mr.Jaquith getting it right. It is about him overturning years of democrat party corruption in the Albany area that permitted these crooked shitstains to do their dirty deeds. They were the ones not “getting it right” The Obama DOJ and the criminal Cuomo regime know no shame in their complicity with this evil that has been perpetrated on the young and innocent.

So does this make it less likely that Mack will plead guilty to any of the remaining charges in the original case – or more likely, because she can now do so without facing so much prison time, and accepting designation as a sex offender at this point, instead kicking that can down the road?

Will those who have plead, or who do (I think Russell will, after coming back from spending time with family and being reminded where her real allegiances lie), then be under the gun to testify fully and truthfully in new proceedings in NDNY, which could actually strengthen the case there?

And will SDNY do anything to try to make sure that NDNY follows up fully on their work and doesn’t drop the ball, or maybe even develops new charges? I’d expect that if the SDNY were really invested in seeing the case through, that they might even transfer one or more of their staff familiar with it, to NDNY to help shepherd it through – it will be interesting to watch for any signs like that.

KR – If the NDNY agrees to prosecute, I imaginethe evidence will be handed overto them and the defendants will have to be reindicted on these charges. Can we expect that to happen before the upcoming trial?

Among possible parallels and comparisons for NXIVM, are Scientology, the Manson family (whose leader also mined Scientology for techniques of manipulation and control), and the infamous FLDS polygamist Mormon cult.

The FLDS was rife with pedophilia and sex abuse, and various financial crimes, on an epic scale, even fully taking over whole towns, their law enforcement and judicial systems. They were given a pass and even protected for the better part of a century, by mostly Republican officials at all levels of government – cases like this aren’t about party politics, rather the general problem of corruption in politics. Attempting to politicize the issues, just plays into the sort of dynamics that help allow such corruption to fester in the first place.

US Attorney Grant Jaquith – a Republican appointee of Donald Trump – does not necessarily have to follow the longstanding tradition of the office of turning a blind eye to the crimes of Bronfman-Raniere.